Australia's unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent in February 2010 (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

March 11, 2010

Embargo: 11.30 am (CANBERRA TIME) 11/03/2010

23/2010

Australia's unemployment rate at 5.3 per cent in February 2010: ABS

The Australian unemployment rate was at 5.3 per cent in February, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points from the downwardly revised 5.2 per cent observed in January 2010.

The ABS reported the number of people employed in February slightly increased, up 400 people to 10.971 million, seasonally adjusted. The rise in employment was driven by a rise in full-time employment, up 11,400 people to 7.660 million that was offset by a fall in part-time employment, down 11,000 people to 3.311 million.

The number of people unemployed had increased, up 10,700 people to 615,900 in February, the ABS reported.

The ABS seasonally adjusted monthly aggregate hours worked series showed a rise in February, up 35.9 million hours to 1,553.2 million hours.

The ABS participation rate in February decreased 0.1 percentage points to 65.2 per cent.

The ABS seasonally adjusted labour force underutilisation rate was 12.8 per cent in February 2010, down 0.6 percentage points from November 2009.